Inside Matters

Episode 028 - Dr Alan Walker - What’s next in the microbiome field?

The following is a conversation with Dr. Alan Walker, a senior lecturer at the Rowett Institute for Nutrition and Health at the University of Aberdeen.
Dr Walker has worked in the microbiome field for the last 20 years. Throughout this episode, he shared with us some of his insights into how the field has developed, and how new technologies have improved our understanding of the microbiome. We also spent a lot of time Having some fun debates about the pros and cons, some of the benefits associated with microbiome modulating therapy, and where some myths and misconceptions lie.
For the generalist who wants to learn more about the microbiome, I think this is an excellent episode. We also get pretty deep and pretty technical in some areas, like, for example, microbiome sequencing, next-generation probiotics, and whether the microbiome causes obesity or contributes to obesity. There are tons in here and we go right the way across the microbiome field talking about diagnostics, at-home microbiome testing, the use of faecal microbiota transplantation, and what is a healthy microbiome.
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of the listeners and supporters of the podcast for everything you've done to help us build the name, and the brand, and to get the message out there around microbiome being critically important and gut health being really important for wider body health.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:39 Microbiome research 30 years ago
00:05:17 Why is the microbiome important?
00:10:08 How does the microbiome develop?
00:12:52 Do we have a core microbiome?
00:14:51 What is a healthy microbiome?
00:20:22 Health and poor microbiome diversity
00:22:55 Technology shifts in microbiome research
00:31:13 Microbiome human database
00:33:54 AI helping us understand the microbiome?
00:38:27 Convincing others of the importance of the microbiome
00:40:18 Importance of fibre
00:45:27 Microbiome and obesity
00:49:31 How to improve microbiome
00:56:03 Probiotics
01:02:29 Differences in animal and human microbiome
01:04:00 Genetics and genomic diversity
01:05:38 Phabe bacteria
01:06:17 Where is the field going?
01:08:35 FMT
01:12:39 Processed foods

Biome Bites Ep011 - Supplements performing like drugs

In this Biome Bite, Dr James McIlroy discusses the differences between food supplements and drugs, including their regulations and pricing. He suggests that some food supplements may be better than drugs for certain uses and indications, despite the higher standards and stringency for drugs.
What are the differences between a food supplement and a drug?
There are some key differences in the regulations. And those regulations govern how they're manufactured, how they're tested, the levels of quality assurance, and also the level of evidence. that has to be generated for them to be able to be put on the market.
So drugs are regulated by competent authorities. In the UK, it's the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Food supplements are regulated by food standards agencies. In the US, interestingly, they're both governed and regulated by the same group, the FDA, Food and Drug Administration, but they're separate divisions within that very large organization that create the standards that the companies and the organizations that are manufacturing, distributing, and marketing have to adhere to.
Now, classically, there are significant price differences between drugs and food supplements, and that's driven by the level of evidence that the companies have to generate to put the products on the market. And there's much higher stringency and standards in drugs rather than foods. Drugs often fail in clinical development as well because the standards are so high.
Therefore, the drugs that are on the market are priced by the companies to be able to recoup losses from a company-wide perspective, associated with failed drugs, and also to make a significant return, typically within a patent life. of an approved drug. Back to the topic. Food supplements could be better than a drug for certain indications, and certain uses.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:46 Key differences between supplement and drug
00:03:14 Lysine
00:09:54 Quercetin
00:15:19 Melatonin
TRANSCRIPT:
Biome Bites #11
 
Hi everyone, it's your host Dr. James McElroy here today for another Biome Bites. This is a solo episode so you have me and only me for the entirety of this episode. Today we're going to be speaking about three food supplements that could be better than drugs. Or rather, in a parallel universe, may in fact be regulated and distributed, marketed, and prescribed as drugs.
So what are the differences between a food supplement and a drug? There are some key differences in relation to the regulations. And those regulations govern how they're manufactured, how they're tested, the levels of quality assurance, and also the level of evidence. that has to be generated for them to be able to be put on the market.
So drugs are regulated by competent authorities. In the UK, it's the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Food supplements are regulated by food standards agencies. In the US, interestingly, they're both governed and regulated by the same group, the FDA, Food and Drug Administration, but they're separate divisions within that very large organization that create the standards that the companies and the organizations that are manufacturing, distributing, and marketing have to adhere to.
Now, classically, there are significant price differences between drugs and food supplements, and that's driven by the level of evidence that the companies have to generate to put the products on the market. And there's much higher stringency and standards in drugs rather than foods. Drugs often fail in clinical development as well because the standards are so high.
Therefore, the drugs that are on the market are priced by the companies to be able to recoup losses from a company-wide perspective, associated with failed drugs, and also to make a significant return, typically within a patent life. of an approved drug. Back to the topic. Food supplements could be better than a drug for certain indications, and certain uses.
I'm going to start with something called Lysine, also known as L Lysine. Lysine is an essential amino acid. Now, there are nine essential amino acids that we're aware of for the human body. That means that they cannot be synthesized by the human body and have to be consumed, have to be generated by your diet, so you have to consume them, you have to find them through some sort of intake, whether it's through food or a supplement.
High protein foods are rich sources of all the essential amino acids, red meat, poultry, fish, pork, nut, legumes, and soy products from a plant perspective, also contain a wide variety of amino acids. Typically they don't. contain the complete sets of amino acids in the case of plants. And interestingly, from a protein bioavailability perspective, animal proteins are typically more bioavailable than plant proteins.
What are we talking about now in the context of lysine? We're not talking about muscle hypertrophy. We're talking about cold sores, which are generated by the herpes simplex virus. And there are two that we typically discuss, HSV1, and HSV2. Typically there are cold sores on the face, but of course, there are also cold sores that can happen elsewhere in the body, most typically the genitals, HSV 1.
Impacts the face, and HSV2s typically impact the genitals, although I think there can be some vice versa in there. Now, classically, when treating a cold sore, the medical community would prescribe an antiviral medication that can be topical. Ciclovir, commonly known as Zovarax, now is an over-the-counter medication.
We can get into the differences between over-the-counter medications and prescription medications a different times and on a different podcast. But it would be typically an antiviral medication, topically, or systemic. Lysine has antiviral properties, which have been most classically demonstrated in what we call in vitro experiments.
So these are experiments. In a test tube, essentially, where there's no living organism or living thing like a mouse or a rat or some other different species. Now, Interestingly, there is quite a good bit of evidence for lysine as a supplement for the prevention and treatment of cold sores in particular.
I think there is some evidence as well for genital herpes, but the majority of the evidence exists for oral herpes, which is essentially synonymous with the term cold sore. So what does the evidence show? The evidence shows, fascinatingly, across a range of studies, for the most part, that lysine supplementation can prevent or reduce the severity, and by severity, we're talking about how many are there across a particular defined part of the body, in this case, the face, the severity beyond just how many there are, so how deep are they, how sore are they, there are other mechanisms.
and predetermined parameters that clinicians and people working in this field use. And how long are the outbreaks? So what people have found is that daily supplementation with lysine in people who are prone to cold sores can, as I said, prevent and reduce the severity. Increased use of lysine during a cold sore outbreak can accelerate the time frame in which you have cold sores, so reduce the time frame that you have cold sores and indeed make the outbreaks less severe.
That's fascinating, right? Now in terms of dose typically one to three grams a day for the treatment. That's one thousand to three thousand milligrams per day for as long as you've got a cold sore. If you can feel a sort of what we call prodromal type syndrome coming on where you've got a bit of a tingle.
Some people know if they're about to get one things feel a bit strange in their face or elsewhere in their body. And that would be a good opportunity to load up and from a preventative point of view, it would typically be 500 milligrams. That's 0. 5 of a gram taken every day. Wide variety of sources available.
It's quite a cheap supplement. So you can get a tub of 30. Excuse me, I was just taking a drink. You can get a tub of 30 for between 5 and 15 pounds depending on the source. Now, you can take a lot more lysine than that. I had a look for the LD50, which is a pharmaceutical, clinical phrase used to describe what the lethal dose is of a medicine, and the LD50 was at an insanely high level.
That means you can probably take more than three grams a day. You could maybe load up to five or 10, see how that works for you. I've certainly done that. You can also get lysine as a topical formulation. Typically in the US, it's hard to find in the UK, so if you wanted a double whammy approach, you could take lysine systemically and you could also apply it topically around your lips.
It doesn't seem to interfere or cause pain. In the formulation that I've seen, it's more of an ointment rather than a gel. Or a powder. It just makes your lips a little bit shiny. Now, what about the evidence? The evidence is quite strong in some respects, but it's also mixed. The studies are not ideal insofar as they're not very large for the most part, and typically they're conducted in compliance with standards that you'd associate with a food supplement rather than a drug.
As I said at the start of this podcast, the Stringency, the level of regulation and rigour in the clinical studies is less for a food supplement than it is for a drug. So you might be wondering why has the pharmaceutical industry not jumped all over this. And I have to say anecdotally, i. e. based on personal experience, but also other people's personal experiences outside the confines of a robust clinical study.
The evidence for lysine is pretty awesome. Some people swear by this, absolutely swear by it. I am prone to cold sores around my lips when I'm stressed. It runs in the family. Interestingly, my dad never gets them, and has never had one, but my mum is prone to them. So there are obviously some genetic predeterminants there around how bad your outbreaks are.
But I, I've been taking lysine every day for years now. I was put onto the evidence by a former colleague called Dr Michael Butler. So shout out to you, Mike. If you're listening, I'm still listening to your advice. And here we are on Inside Matters talking about it in front of other people. So if you're prone to cold sores, I would recommend you give lysine a try.
In a later episode, we're going to be talking about how to select a good quality supplement so if you want to wait before buying until that episode it'll be coming out within the next week or two. So that's supplement number one, Lysine. Supplement number two is Quercetin. Quercetin spelled q u e r c e t i n and we'll have some post-show notes as well.
It's a type of flavonoid Flavonoids form part of a broader category called polyphenols and if you've been listening to this podcast You will have heard of the three P's prebiotics probiotics polyphenols again and again and if you want to take care of your microbiome the broad principles are, eat real food and focus on prebiotics, probiotics, polyphenols There's a plant pigment that's found in many fruits and vegetables this is quercetin I'm talking about now.
It has antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties, some people even say it has anti-carcinogenic properties, i.e. anti cancer. What kind of fruits and sources in the diet is it found in? Onions, apples, vegetables, grapes, tea, and Red wine. But we've talked about red wine in the past in the podcast as well. And if you want to get quercetin in high doses, I would recommend you look at a supplement.
So the one key benefit, I believe, from quercetin in the context of this supplement versus drug discussion is that it has antihistamine properties. So the histamine pathways are heavily implicated in allergy and allergic reactions. And these can range from what we call atopy, so a very mild type reaction, where you maybe get some inflammation in your skin, to anaphylaxis, where you have a total.
almost catastrophic systemic, so total body reaction to an allergen. Now Quercetin has antihistamine-type properties. There's a variety of evidence available to suggest that it can reduce the severity of allergy and atopy including hay fever. So for some reason, it stabilizes histamines from certain cells.
I'm not 100% sure what the pathways are that can reduce allergy symptoms. Typical doses range between 250 milligrams, and 600 milligrams per day, taken in divided doses throughout the day so you're not just getting a big dump of quercetin at some point in time. Now more studies are required for a definitive conclusion.
And we go back to the lysine discussion. Why are the pharmaceutical industry not all over this? They exist as food supplements already. It's hard to get a strong intellectual property position based on the studies that already exist, based on the fact that it's already ubiquitous as a food supplement.
And typically the pharmaceutical industry is only interested if it can have a defined intellectual property patent position. Ideally, sometimes they're okay with know-how, but basically, they're trying to stop people from copying and eating into market share. Reversing out now, from quercetin specifically, into flavonoids, bioflavonoids more generally, forming part of the bigger polyphenol complex.
The human body doesn't efficiently absorb all the flavonoids because of the complex structure that these compounds take. and the microbiota. through a series of bacterial enzymatic reactions, i.e. enzymes contained within the metabolism of bacteria can break down the bioflavonoids into smaller, more bioavailable compounds.
Now, this is one of these, we feed the microbes, they feed us, type discussions. And the things they feed us are classically beneficial. So The flavonoids themselves through the actions of the microbiota have several anti-inflammatory, potentially anti-carcinogenic properties. They may strengthen gut barrier function as well and we've talked about epithelial integrity a lot on this podcast.
Gut barrier integrity aka leaky gut. If you want more listen to the episode with Dr. Laura Craven on that. So there's some evidence to suggest that the flavonoids found in foods including quercetin, which is one of the best-studied flavonoids, can impact cardiovascular disease risk factors, certain cancers, and obesity-related complications, and part of that must be through their interaction with microbiota.
One final point. I believe that flavonoids are synergistic with fibre. Fibre, we talk on this podcast a lot. All prebiotics are fibres, but not all fibres are prebiotics, right? Prebiotic is a type of fibre that promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria within the gut and there is absolute synergy between fibres and flavonoids.
The good news is that the flavonoids that come from plants can have high fibre. There's a synergy there. So if you're eating colourful plants, You classically have a lot of flavonoids and you have a fibre content there as well in the form of cellulose, but also other prebiotic substances like, for example, pectin and inulin.
So that's quercetin. If you're struggling with allergies, you're allergic to a cat, you're allergic to a dog, or you have hay fever. Maybe give quercetin a try. Also personally, based on anecdotes, based on what I've seen, and based on the people I've spoken to, quercetin can also have an impact on systemic inflammation.
So if you've got achy joints, quercetin has been reported to be beneficial in some people, much like turmeric potentially has some benefits as well. Cercumin potentially has some benefits too. Now, number three on this list, and we're getting to the end of the podcast now, melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain.
The pineal gland sits close to the pituitary gland if you're more familiar with that. And it helps regulate the body's sleep-wake cycle. Just as a brief aside, I like to go a little bit off-piece sometimes. The pineal gland is also thought to be the source of something called dimethyltryptamine, also known as DMT, which has very strong psychedelic properties.
Some people believe large amounts of DMT are released by the body in Death, which is why people who have near-death experiences report similar experiences to people who've taken DMT recreationally. Okay, back now to the drug versus food debate. Melatonin is not found in foods. It's quite hard to find hormones in foods.
Classically to do with the stability of the compounds metabolized by whatever it is where you're getting the source from. So if it's a slice of meat, then it would not find its way into the meat that you're eating. Now melatonin potentially because it's part of what we call circadian rhythm, i. e. your sleep-wake cycle could have beneficial effects in helping you get to sleep.
There's some evidence to suggest that for people who have jet lag, so people who work in shift patterns, melatonin can be a good way to reestablish a normal circadian rhythm. Now, the evidence is a little bit mixed. Some evidence suggests that it can improve sleep quality. And reducing the time taken to fall asleep.
Others say that it doesn't improve sleep quality, as measured through your sleep cycles, but may indeed reduce the time that it takes to get to sleep. This is another one of these anecdotal ones, where you have to try yourself, I think, to really understand how it affects you. Anecdotally, some people who take melatonin can feel groggy in the morning, they can feel slow, they can have brain fog, they can also feel a little bit nauseous, whereas other people, it gives them an amazingly deep sleep.
And our recent episode with Andy Scott, the bodybuilder, revealed that he's very big on melatonin. He takes a big dose. Classically, the recommended doses are 0. 5 to 5 milligrams. Andy was taking 10 milligrams. That's a lot, but he's also a very big guy. So if you're having trouble falling asleep. If you're doing a lot of international travelling, you should consider melatonin.
I would prefer melatonin to some of the other drugs that are available for sleep. Zopiclone is a classic one, but Zopiclone has an impact on REM sleep and other sedatives like GABA, and Agonist. So for example, the Azepam. are not things you want to be taking regularly at all because they have a high risk of developing dependency and a sort of rebound withdrawal effect can occur quite easily with limited use.
Interestingly with melatonin, there doesn't seem to be what they call this rebound insomnia, i. e. you stop taking it, you can't get sleep, that doesn't seem to exist based on what I've seen. And there are some people, classically people who describe themselves as naturopaths swear by melatonin for infections too.
I've not done much research on this. I'd encourage you to look at it yourself, but it might be an additional benefit. Melatonin as an antioxidant across the blood-brain barrier may be effective in delaying, preventing, and being involved with the development of some neurodegenerative diseases, most notably Alzheimer's.
So we're coming to the end now of this podcast. I just wanted to emphasize that none of what I've said today constitutes a practice of medicine. It does not equal the giving of medical advice. You should consult with your healthcare professional before embarking on a supplement routine.

Episode 027 - “Mr Gut Health” Jordan Haworth

The following is a conversation with Jordan Haworth, a gut health physiologist working at the Functional Gut Clinic who are based in Manchester and London.
In this conversation, we covered probably, possibly the widest range of gut health-related topics in the history of Inside Matters, so this could become a reference episode for all things gut health in the future.
Jordan is a fountain of knowledge relating to basically all things to do with the gastrointestinal tract, prebiotics, probiotics, polyphenols, everything. We covered what to eat for your microbiome, what not to eat for your microbiome, what IBS is, including how to potentially classify it in a way that's not currently widely accepted amongst the broad range of medical community specialists that currently focus on IBS.
We talked about antibiotics, in particular an antibiotic called rifaximin, which counterintuitively may actually be good for gut health in specific situations. We also talked about food sweeteners, emulsifiers, and some of the really exciting research that Jordan and the team at the Functional Gut Clinic are focused on.
I absolutely love this episode. I've learned a heck of a lot. I'm absolutely sure you will as well.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:26 IBS: what is it?
00:03:29 Bloating
00:04:30 IBD causes & diagnosis
00:09:38 What is bile?
00:11:54 Different categories of IBS
00:18:18 Coffee a laxative?
00:19:18 What is gut health?
00:21:38 What aren’t normal gut responses?
00:23:23 Most common symptoms
00:28:53 Mr Gut Health’s journey
00:32:51 Stool sampling
00:35:46 Functional Gut Clinic
00:37:18 Definition of probiotic
00:43:46 Probiotics: what to look for
00:48:14 Tummy MOT
00:53:15 Microbiome is an orchestra
00:55:30 More on Tummy MOT
00:57:00 Prebiotics: what are they?
01:01:04 Partially hydrolyzed guar gum
01:03:59 FODMAP diet
01:07:27 Best food for microbiome
01:10:49 How to improve microbiome
01:12:52 ChatGTP for gut health tips
01:15:17 Fermented foods
01:22:08 What’s bad for the microbiome?
01:26:30 Artificial sweeteners
01:30:15 Gluten intolerance
01:34:22 Cutting out dairy for the gut
01:41:33 Testing for SIBO on the NHS
01:49:47 TikTok gut health trends
01:53:20 Things to avoid for a healthy gut
02:00:53 Colonic irrigations

Episode 026 - Finding Treatments for IBD

Learn more about this episode's guests and the topics discussed - https://insidematters.health/
The following is a conversation with Professor Konstantinos Yerasmididis, a professor in clinical nutrition at the University of Glasgow, who has a special interest in the gut microbiome and dietary interventions to treat disease. We also had Dr Richard Hansen, consultant paediatric gastroenterologist, who was on episode number one of the podcast.
This is the first time I had two guests participating in the Inside Matters podcast at the same time. It was an absolute pleasure. Given that Costas and Richard are experts in inflammatory bowel disease and that they've collaborated on several different research initiatives, we spent a lot of time talking about inflammatory bowel disease.
We spoke about their work which is focused on using nutrition and personalized dietary therapy in the context of Crohn's disease in particular. So they've been involved in a program called CD-TREAT where they've tried to mimic the effects of something called exclusive internal nutrition, essentially an entirely liquid diet with a diet that contained real food.
Why is that important? 
Well, for four out of five children with newly diagnosed Crohn's disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, this exclusively liquid diet has a profound impact on Crohn's disease. So four out of five of them go into what we call remission. i. e. no clinical symptoms.
However, there are challenges associated with EEN. Most notably, it's very restrictive. You can't eat any food for six to eight weeks. So what Costas and Richard have been trying to do is, can we give children and potentially even adults a diet that contains the same components? as a liquid diet. It allows people to eat real food without having to have an exclusively liquid diet.
We also talked about some common myths and misconceptions associated with the microbiome. We asked the question, does the microbiota cause obesity? We also spoke about the microbiome field more generally and how it's progressed over time. and some of the challenges that both the field and the academic researchers have faced over the last decade.
This is a really interesting conversation that I think should be accessible to most of the listeners. We did go quite deep on some areas but we always brought it back to well, what does that mean for the listener and what can a listener take away from it?
I believe that you will particularly enjoy this podcast if you're someone with inflammatory bowel disease or if you know somebody suffering from inflammatory bowel disease. You will also enjoy this podcast if you're interested in diet, nutrition, and how the diet interplays with the microbiome and how the microbiome interplays with the rest of the body.
Timestamps
00:00:00 Intro
00:04:00 Welcome to the guests
00:04:48 What is a healthy microbiome?
00:09:24 Microbial therapeutics
00:14:00 Intersection between disease and diversity in the biome
00:17:41 Insights from research
00:22:36 Should we drink milk
00:31:47 CDG
00:34:39 Mediterranean diet pt1
00:40:51 Carnivore diet
00:47:52 Personalised dietary intervention pt1
00:50:22 Microbiome testing
00:55:14 Personalised dietary intervention pt2
01:02:23 Measuring inflammatory cytokines
01:08:55 Mediterranean diet pt2
01:14:40 Fermented foods
01:18:59 Plant-based diet
01:22:10 Microbiome and obesity
01:26:50 Do the scientists take supplements?
01:30:12 Composition of microbiome
01:37:43 Treating IBD
01:43:28 Training gastroenterologists
01:47:16 Importance of hydration to the guy
01:47:57 Obesity and the gut microbiome
01:56:31 What’s next?
02:00:12 The future of research and treatment

Episode 025 - End of Year Message

With a wrap-up of 2023, Dr James McIlroy reflects on his journey hosting the Inside Matters Podcast so far.
I have to say that I've thoroughly enjoyed the first year and a bit of the Inside Matters podcast.
I'm thrilled actually that I took that step to start it. And there was an element of not sure what I'm getting into here. Can I produce content once every two weeks? And are people going to want to come on and talk to me?
But fast forward to December 2023 and we've had genuinely some of the best minds in the microbiome space on the podcast. And we've got a loyal listener base who listened to most episodes. Some every single episode, there's a group of people who write into the podcast and say they're enjoying it.
They've learned a lot. Some people have taken action themselves on their health and some people are reporting amazing benefits. I feel better. Some people have had an impact on their disease and that just makes me happy. Because, fundamentally, I believe that the microbiome is extremely important.
I believe that gut health contributes to wider body health in a way that's currently underappreciated by the general medical community. And even specialist medical doctors who, for some reason, even with all the evidence that's available now, don't think it's as important as it is. So what it's about on Inside Matters is connecting with people on a really deep level and helping them live a better, longer, healthier life through taking steps to improve their microbiota and microbiome, in doing so improving their gut health, in doing so improving their wider body health.
And this is just the start, you know, we're, we're just at the start of this journey, which is why I'm excited. And we're starting to build good traction, you know, 35 5-star reviews on Spotify, I think it's 17 or 18 on Apple podcasts, people commenting on the videos, people writing it on Instagram, stopped once on the subway in Glasgow, which is a bit of a claim to fame.
And it sounds very egotistical, but it was pretty damn cool. And that just motivates me to keep going and to create. Even better content on a week-to-week basis for the listeners. None of it would have been possible without the team at the Podcast Studio Glasgow who've gone above and beyond to help build this because they believed, and believe in me as the founder and the host.
They believe in the vision and the mission of the podcast and Without them, we wouldn't have built the brand. We wouldn't have been able to get it going in the way that we have, and I've learned a huge amount from Mark and more laterally cam about podcasting and creating great content and this new world of education.
21st century year education.
I wanted to take this opportunity on, on record to thank Mark and Cam for their belief in the partnership that we've established. And I'm looking forward to 2024.
What have you got to look forward to in 2024 as a listener?
More great content. A couple of really high-profile people actually in this space booked in for the first couple of quarters in 2024, which I'm excited about.
We're going to continue with the content once every two weeks. We're going to have more solo episodes where I'm talking about topics that are probably more easily accessible to the general population. Why is that? Well, we've had great top minds coming on this podcast and we get deep, really deep actually probably deeper than any other platform on the internet for microbiome.
And for some people that's gold dust.

Episode 024 - Andy Scott - Training to Failure

In episode 24 we once again meet up with IFBB bodybuilder Andy Scott.
Hopefully, you can see for those of you who are watching the video Andy is massive. He's 130kg and there are just slabs of muscle on his body. So he knows a thing or two about how to gain muscle. If you're interested in how to gain muscle, lose fat, and get in shape, this is a podcast episode that you’ll want to listen to.
You can watch this episode on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/IViPBxJ8ZFE
For those of you who want to connect with Andy and learn more or perhaps have him as your personal trainer, I would highly recommend him because he blasts you and teaches you the true meaning of training to failure. If you think you're training to failure, and you've not been trained by Andy Scott or someone similar, you probably actually haven't trained to failure and doing so is worthwhile to get maximum gains.
Reach out to Andy on Instagram.
I'm very grateful to all of you. the listener for the support that you've been giving us so far. The best way you can support the podcast is by liking, subscribing and very kindly giving us a five-star review. People are messaging that I don't know and even bumped into someone recently who I didn't know who said they were listening to the podcast, which was frankly awesome.
We started this podcast over a year ago to produce high-quality gut health content for people all over the world and we've been delivering that content every second Thursday. If you know someone who’d benefit from the conversations on the Inside Matters Podcast, I’d encourage you to share the podcast with them.
 
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:06 How Andy got started
00:03:23 Socks and Crocs?
00:06:18 Are we in a simulation?
00:07:31 Switching rugby for bodybuilding
00:10:17 Being introduced to testosterone
00:11:58 Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary
00:13:03 Andy’s first competitive show
00:14:49 Show prepping as a living
00:17:49 The realities of pro bodybuilder physique
00:19:39 Magnesium dosing
00:21:16 Psilocybin dosing
00:23:15 Treating cachexia with CBD
00:24:47 Parkinson’s disease
00:32:52 Dealing with injuries
00:36:17 Dorian Yates and training to failure
00:43:23 TRT cycles and contest prep
00:53:51 Victor Black
00:55:01 Optimal recovery
00:56:57 Trenbolone
00:58:54 Focus on overall health
01:03:56 Drugs don’t make mass
01:08:25 Getting a pro card
01:14:44 If you’re considering a steroid cycle
01:16:50 Women aren’t interested in bodybuilders
01:22:46 Longevity
01:26:32 Creating programs for clients
01:29:20 Do women want to bulk?
01:35:35 Avoiding crash diets
01:39:01 Supplements
01:42:51 Swimming for fitness
01:47:52 Conclusion
 

Episode 023 - Dr Simon Baunwall - Evolving FMT in Denmark

In episode 23 we chat with Dr. Simon Baunwall, a medical doctor and scientific researcher focused on fecal microbiota transplantation, also known as FMT. Dr. Baunwall is based at Arras University Hospital in Denmark.
This conversation centred around the establishment of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) as a therapy in Denmark.
Simon talked to us about his work which centres around establishing FMT as a standardised, scalable approach using a blood banking type model, is fascinating. We talked about his perspectives on how the field might evolve looking forward, the next indication after recurring C-difficile infection, and the progression of FMT delivered by colonoscopy to delivery by capsules.
And we had some interesting philosophical discussions around what is the mechanism of action and how do you define a dose. This is important, as historically what researchers have used is the wet mass of starting material, in other words, stool, that goes into the process. But what we discussed is actually, that's probably not a good definition or metric for dose!
Additionally, we talked about the regulations, which Simon's been very heavily involved with. I particularly enjoyed this episode because Simon is a self-confessed lover of the Inside Matters podcast.
In fact, he has listened to pretty much all the episodes. So it was amazing to have a loyal listener on the podcast to talk about their fantastic work in the microbiome and FMT space.
 
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:38 How Simon got involved in the microbiome
00:04:01 We can do better
00:05:47 Low tech
00:09:21 Patient improvement
00:12:33 The metabolite perspective
00:14:18 How the process is evolving
00:19:31 Universally perfect donor?
00:23:29 Are we doing too much?
00:25:25 Likelihood of false-positives
00:30:18 Undergoing repeated screenings
00:42:02 Preparing for it going wrong
00:44:51 Safety issues
00:50:29 What is your vision?
00:57:31 Is it actually safe?
01:01:48 Building in scale
01:05:20 Accessing screening as a private company
01:10:43 Two different donor types
01:20:09 The struggle to get enough donors
01:24:15 Limitations of diet studies
01:28:07 Dr Mark Hyman
01:30:39 Regulating FMT
01:34:50 Presenting stool as a “drug”

Episode 022 - Dr Indrani Mukhopadhya - Next generation probiotics

Following is a conversation with Dr Indrani Mukhopadhyay, a lecturer at the Institute of Medical Sciences Microbiology and Immunology Group at the University of Aberdeen.
Over the last ten years, we’ve started to understand more and more about why the virome is important in both health and disease. Indrani is an expert in the viral and has been involved in some of the seminal research to characterise profiles and help us understand why the virus is important. So if you're interested in that, this is a great episode for you.
We also spoke about probiotics and what a next-generation probiotic might be in terms of its composition, structure and function. We spoke about Indrani's career progression. She's been all over the world involved in exciting research and setting up her new lab recently here in Aberdeen. So we covered a range of topics. 
Finally, we spoke about inflammatory bowel disease, how the viral elements of the microbiome might be important and how specific depletions of bacteria might be important too. 
As always, I wanted to thank you, the listener, for tuning in and for supporting the podcast. It's fantastic to get the feedback we've been getting about people enjoying it and if you are enjoying it and haven't yet liked and subscribed, please do that.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:52 - How did you get into the field of the microbiome?
00:06:32 - Research into developing vaccines
00:12:58 - Effectiveness of vaccines
00:14:24 - Complexity of the rotavirus
00:16:28 - Seasonal flu
00:20:01 - Viruses in our gut
00:24:17 - Viral metagenomics
00:33:06 - Knowledge of viruses greater than of bacteria
00:35:53 - What’s the most important part of the microbiome?
00:37:06 - Bacteriophages
00:40:15 - Enteric viruses
00:41:29 - Fungus in the gut
00:42:39 - Viruses keep bacteria in check
00:43:07 - Most exciting development in microbiome research
00:46:10 - Women in science
00:47:00 - Immunomodulator’s effects on gut viruses.
00:49:23 - Next-generation probiotics
00:52:20 - Taking probiotic supplements
00:54:28 - Manufacturing bacteria to treat patients
00:55:39 - Benefits of single strain vs consortia
00:56:34 - Universally beneficial probiotic?
01:00:25 - Thanks and conclusion

Episode 021 - Prof. Karen Scott - What is a healthy gut microbiome?

In episode 21 we chat with Professor Karen Scott of the Rowett Institute at the University of Aberdeen.
Watch the podcast on YouTube.
Professor Scott is one of the world's leading researchers for gut health, gut microbiome and all things microbial. 
We had a fascinating and at times humourous chat about all things microbiome and bacterium. We cover questions such as;
Does Professor Scott take probiotics? What are some of the limitations of current microbiome research? What is a healthy microbiome and how can you make yours healthier through diet, nutrition and potentially supplements? We also cover the role of fibre in our diet and whether we really need to be eating 5 pieces of fruit and veg a day to get our fibre intake, or whether we can find good sources of fibre in other foods. And we chat about where Professor Scott sees the research into the gut microbiome heading in the next 5 years.
You can listen to this episode as a professor with a keen interest in the subject matter of the gut microbiome and still learn things. Likewise, this could be your first ever Inside Masters podcast and you'll learn a lot.
00:00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:47:09 - Getting into the field of the microbiome
00:06:38:08 - Detriments to bacteria transfer
00:11:17:05 - The problem of antimicrobial resistance
00:18:23:01 - Restoring the microbiome post-antibiotics
00:20:53:10 - Illegal to refer to “probiotics”?
00:21:51:23 - Is it a viral or bacterial infection?
00:25:21:07 - Discussion on vancomycin
00:30:29:02 - Does the microbiome change from when people are born and as they get older?
00:32:17:23 - Understanding how bacteria “use us”
00:34:58:13 - Why fibre is so important to the gut
00:40:30:01 - The risks of too much protein
00:41:48:08 - Are some fibres better than others?
00:48:40:04 - Does our gut make us “crave” certain foods?
00:50:17:14 - What is a “healthy” gut microbiome?
00:53:02:17 - Bacteria and inflammation
01:01:59:08 - Advancements in culturing bacteria
01:06:42:13 - Taking probiotics
01:08:42:09 - Thoughts on FMT
01:12:31:07 - The importance of feeding our gut bacteria
01:15:33:08 - Where is the field heading? And conclusion

Episode 020 - Kristina Campbell - Do probiotics actually work?

In episode 20 we chat with Kristina Campbell, microbiome science communicator, educator and author.
In this episode, I had a fascinating chat with Kristina Campbell, a science writer who specialises in tiny things. In other words, all the microorganisms that live on and inside of our bodies. It was our first remote podcast with a guest, and I'm really grateful for Kristina joining me and helping me produce such amazing content for all of our listeners.
We talked about what makes a good probiotic “good” and what makes a bad one “bad”. If you're somebody who consumes probiotics or is thinking about taking probiotics, you should tune into this episode because we really dig into where the field is and what are some of the key quality criteria that you should be looking for if you want to embark on a probiotics journey.
We also talked about where we see the field going in the next five years and even further on from that talked about some of the recent drug approvals as well, which we're all really excited about, plus some tips for parents who want their children to health a gut-healthy diet. This was the first remote recording that we did and it went really well.
As always, I would encourage you, if you're enjoying this podcast, to like and subscribe, the best thing you can possibly do to support Inside Matters is to hover your finger over the five-star reviews and kindly give us five stars. This helps bump us up the algorithm, helping the podcast reach more people who will ultimately benefit from the no-cost scientific information that we're delivering to you, the listener.
Timestamps:
00:00:00:00 - Intro
 
00:02:01:20 - Kristina introduces herself and outlines her background
 
00:05:13:09 - Kristina shares some of her own health journey
 
00:07:18:06 - Why the interest in probiotics?
 
00:11:32:01 - What to look for when considering a probiotic
 
00:14:33:24 - Probiotics vs life beneficial microbes
 
00:23:09:21 - Role of microorganisms and our digestion
 
00:32:24:02 - Microorganisms and new drug developments
 
00:35:13:01 - Fecal transplantation derivatives
 
00:37:24:09 - Developing bugs as drugs
 
00:40:10:22 - Should everyone take a probiotic?
 
00:43:00:18 - Kristina’s books
 
00:47:50:08 - What about prebiotics?
 
00:51:58:01 - Can a dead microorganism confer a health benefit
 
00:53:06:15 - The future of microorganism therapeutics
 
00:58:15:23 - Pioneers of the microbiome space
 
01:01:30:15 - Distilling the best information
 
01:08:31:21 - What’s next for Kristina?
 
01:11:30:15 - Tips for parents